Road accidents are a serious problem affecting people worldwide. In March 2013, the World Health Organisation published a report (available at http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs358/en/ at the time of filing this application) on road accidents, concluding several alarming facts:                About 1.24 million people die each year as a result of road traffic crashes.        Road traffic injuries are the leading cause of death among young people, aged 15-29 years.        91% of the world's fatalities on the roads occur in low-income and middle-income countries, even though these countries have approximately half of the world's vehicles.        Half of those dying on the world's roads are “vulnerable road users”: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.        Without action, road traffic crashes are predicted to result in the deaths of around 1.9 million people annually by 2020.        Only 28 countries, representing 416 million people (7% of the world's population), have adequate laws that address all five risk factors (speed, drink-driving, helmets, seat-belts and child restraints).        
Main causes of road accidents have been concluded to relate to speed, drink-driving, lack of helmet use, lack of use of seat belts and child restraints and distracted driving. Focusing on speed and distracted driving, the WHO have published their findings as follows.
Regarding speed, it has been found that an increase in average speed is directly related both to the likelihood of a crash occurring and to the severity of the consequences of the crash.
Regarding distracted driving, there are many types of distractions that can lead to impaired driving, but recently there has been a marked increase around the world in the use of mobile phones by drivers that is becoming a growing concern for road safety. The distraction caused by mobile phones can impair driving performance in a number of ways, e.g. longer reaction times, impaired ability to keep in the correct lane, and shorter following distances. Text messaging also results in considerably reduced driving performance, with young drivers at particular risk of the effects of distraction resulting from this use. A driver using a mobile phone is approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than when a driver does not use a mobile phone. Hands-free phones are not much safer than hand-held phone sets. While there is little concrete evidence yet on how to reduce mobile phone use while driving, governments need to be proactive. Actions that can be taken include adopting legislative measures, launching public awareness campaigns, and regularly collecting data on distracted driving to better understand the nature of this problem.
Drivers can also be distracted by other devices, such as GPS (Global Positioning System) receivers, video players and other infotainment devices.
In light of latest facts on road safety, a key problem is the vulnerability of unprotected road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. It would be greatly beneficial if there was an efficient way to alert traffic of unprotected road users to reduce the risk of accidents.
The use of street lights helps drivers to see unprotected road users but distracted drivers may still not be alert enough to notice the unprotected road users.
Traffic lights can be used to stop traffic e.g. when unprotected road users need to cross the road. However, traffic lights are expensive and can not be installed everywhere there are pedestrians and cyclists, particularly in low and middle income countries.